Trial reportEuropean journal of public health2023
The effect of a pre-scheduled appointment on attendance in a population-based mammography screening programme.
Trial report in European journal of public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Advancing Mammographic Screening Among Underserved Groups: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Intervention Strategies to Increase Breast Cancer Screening Uptake.Public health reviews · 2025Pooled it
- The effect of different combinations of open invitations and timed appointments on breast screening attendance: service evaluation of invitation strategies in the NHS Breast Screening Programme.British journal of cancer · 2026Trial
- Has COVID-19 Exacerbated Ethnic-Related Inequalities in Cancer Care in the UK? Findings from a Narrative Review with a Systematic Search.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Review
- Cause-specific mortality after a diagnosis of ductal carcinoma in situ: Associations with screening and socio-economic status.International journal of cancer · 2026Article
- Improving Breast Cancer Outcomes Through Quality Care: Call to Action for the Implementation of the Breast Cancer Care Quality Index (BCCQI).International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- The effect on attendance of the requirement to confirm a pre-scheduled appointment in a population-based mammography screening programme.European journal of public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPre-scheduled appointments can increase attendance in breast cancer screening programmes compared to 'open invitations' but relatively few randomized controlled trials exist. We investigated the effect of a pre-scheduled appointment on uptake in the Flemish population-based mammography screening programme.
methodsBetween September and December 2022, a total of 4798 women were randomly assigned to receive either a pre-scheduled appointment or open invitation. The difference in attendance was compared with Poisson regression analysis for the primary endpoint (attendance ≤92 days after date of invitation), yielding relative risks (RRs). This was done separately for three groups: women invited to a mobile unit and a history of nonattendance (group M-NA); women invited to a hospital-based unit and a history of nonattendance (group HB-NA); women invited to a hospital-based unit and a history of irregular attendance (group HB-IA). There were no women invited to a mobile unit and a history of irregular attendance.
resultsThe RRs in favour of the pre-scheduled appointment were 2.3 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.80-2.88], 1.8 (95% CI 1.07-2.97) and 1.8 (95% CI 1.43-2.39), for groups M-NA, HB-NA and HB-IA, respectively. We found no statistically significant difference between the various RRs. The respective absolute gains in attendance between pre-scheduled appointment and open invitation were 8.3%, 4.4% and 15.8%.
conclusionsSending an invitation with a pre-scheduled appointment is an effective tool to increase screening attendance in both mobile and hospital-based screening units. The pre-scheduled appointment is associated with a considerable absolute gain in attendance which varies depending on the screening history.
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Registered trials
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